Mississippi State
Auburn
Bulldogs Claim SEC VB Home Opener With 3-2 Win Over Auburn
September 28, 2008 | Volleyball
? Official Statistics
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State opened its 2008 SEC home volleyball schedule in exciting fashion Sunday, turning back SEC West foe Auburn in a five-set thriller (25-14, 25-18, 19-25, 18-25, 15-13) at the Newell-Grissom Building. It was MSU's third straight win over the Tigers (5-10, 0-4 SEC) and the fourth in the last five meetings for the Bulldogs (6-8, 1-2 SEC). The match pitted two of the SEC's more youthful volleyball teams. The combined rosters for Auburn and State featured 15 freshmen and but two seniors. But more impressive performances in the match would be turned in by veteran players. Junior outside hitter Ioana Demian registered a career-high and match-leading 22 kills and sophomore middle blocker Ashley Newsome matched a career-best 13 kills to pace Mississippi State. Auburn got a solid 15-kill, .324 hitting performance from senior outside hitter Jessica Glover. "With so many young players on the court for both teams, we knew this would be an interesting match," said fifth-year Bulldog head coach Tina Seals. "We played very well early in the match and got on a roll in winning the first two sets. We knew Auburn wouldn't just roll over, and they picked up their level of play after the break to force a fifth set. Our young players are getting better with each match, but today it was the play of our veterans --- Ioana (Demian), Ashley (Newsome) and Dorey (Gray) --- that made the difference." Demian and Newsome tallied four kills each and the Bulldogs hit at a .320 clip in taking the opening set 25-14. State zipped to a 6-0 lead and never trailed in the opening set. It was Auburn that held the upper hand in the second set. Three early kills by Glover helped the Tigers claim a 7-3 edge and minutes later a Bulldog attack error put Auburn up 16-11. But the Bulldogs went on a 6-0 run, forging into the lead at 17-16 on a service ace by freshman Faith Steinwedell. Another Bulldog freshman, Leanna King, served up a pair of aces during an MSU spree that saw State out-point Auburn 8-1 to close out a 25-18 win. Demian tallied five kills and Mandy Mellencamp added four more as State took a 2-0 match lead at the break. Auburn clawed back into the match with a 25-19 win in the third set and never trailed in evening the match with a 25-18 win in the fourth set. Auburn hit .350 and played error-free on the attack, while State had a combined 21 hitting errors in the third and fourth sets. The Tigers' momentum continued in the deciding fifth set, with Auburn claiming early leads of 3-1 and 5-2. State pulled even at 5-5 on an ace by Steinwedell, and knotted the score six more times before pulling away from a 13-13 deadlock with an ace by Demian and a match-ending block by Newsome and Steinwedell. "Each match is a learning experience for our team," said Seals. "We've been in several of these five-set matches this season and have not been able to finish any of them. Today we were able to take that next step and finish the match. We were a little more aggressive with our serving today, so we had more aces (12), six of them by Leanna King, and more serving errors (19) than in any of our previous matches." Junior setter Dorey Gray recorded her third double-double of the campaign, backing a career-high 39 assists with 12 digs. Kayla Woodard finished with a team-best 14 digs while Faith Steinwedell reached double-digit status with 10. Newsome, who entered the weekend with an SEC-leading 53 total blocks, paced MSU at the net with five assisted blocks. State faces two of its stiffest challenges of the season when it resumes league competition and begins its October schedule this weekend in Starkville. The Bulldogs host South Carolina (11-2, 3-1 SEC) Friday at 7 p.m. and No. 10 Florida (10-1, 4-0 SEC) Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at the Newell-Grissom Building.
? Official Statistics (PDF)
